Urimbirra Fauna Reserve, Hervey Bay

Source: 2020 Seven Network and Fraser Coast Libraries.

During the late sixties and early seventies, many of the children of the Fraser Coast visited Urimbirra Fauna Reserve at Hervey Bay as part of a school excursion or a weekend jaunt with their family. The Urimbirra Retirement Village at 419 – 429 Boat Harbour Drive, Torquay, now stands where the park once housed native wildlife. 

Source: 2020 Seven Network and Fraser Coast Libraries.

The Victor Harbour Times (National Library of Australia, 1978) states “Hervey Bay’s Urimbirra boasts one of the best Aboriginal artefact displays”.

7 : extracts from the archives 1965 to 1975: Urimbirra Park, Hervey Bay.An extract from Channel 7 footage 27th May, 1970. Urimbirra Park, Hervey Bay. This is a silent recording. This project supported by an innovation grant from the Library Board of Queensland © 2020 Seven Network and Fraser Coast Libraries.

South Australia also has a district council run Urimbirra Fauna Reserve that was established around 1975 (National Library of Australia, 1975). It is now called Urimbirra Wildlife Park. The meaning of Urimbirra is cited in the Victor Harbour Times “Urimbirra is an Aboriginal word meaning to preserve, to take care of” (National Library of Australia, 1976). The Urimbirra wildlife experience enabled people to get close to animals including kangaroos and other Australian native wildlife. An employee from the South Australian wildlife park can remember a fellow from Queensland selling towels with Urimbirra on it. It seems our Urimbirra was established first. It was still running in the late seventies.

Source: 2020 Seven Network and Fraser Coast Libraries.

The Victor Travel Service advertisement in the 1978 Victor Harbour Times is testimony to that (National Library of Australia, 1978). It appears to have been sold for development in two portions as there are two different developments on the site. Interestingly not many photos or information can be found about the park. Fraser Coast Libraries has just partnered with Channel Seven and Gympie Library to publish extracts from the Channel Seven archives. The clip from the Urimbirra Fauna Reserve at Hervey Bay was among these treasures. Do you have photographs or memories of the fauna reserve?

References:

National Library of Australia. (1975, December 3). Trove. Retrieved from Victor Harbour Times: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/187064383?searchTerm=Urimbirra%20Fauna%20Reserve

National Library of Australia. (1976, November 10). Trove. Retrieved from Victor Harbour Times: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/186909643?searchTerm=Urimbirra%20Fauna%20Reserve

National Library of Australia. (1978, October 18). Victor Harbour Times. Retrieved from https://trove.nla.gov.au/: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/186913690?searchTerm=urimbirra%20Hervey%20Bay

 Tags #Urimbirra #HerveyBay #FraserCoast #FaunaReserve #Wildlife #Torquay #Channel7